The Demon Inside
by liefwarrior
Summary: Paranoia, intrigue & betrayal dominate the Olympian Council. When Percy's value runs out he is thrown out like a broken toy; after years of exile he's back and he's pissed. So what does he do? Why he applies for the most dangerous job known to man. Death follows his footsteps, can the caring child return or will he fall to the demon inside. Warnings, etc, inside
1. Percy Applies For A Job

**A/N: So this is the second fan fiction I've ever published and the other was essentially a prologue that never really took off. So yeah. Anyways.. give this a chance, although it may initially appear to be yet another Guardian of the Hunt Percemis I assure you it is not. Now for the warning thingamajig.**

 **WARNING: Will be detailed violence, character death and quite possibly torture. It is gonna be a hard, cruel world that ain't got no time for no bleeding hearts; its killed or be killed.**

 **WARNING: Their will probably be mention of rape, and possibly rape will occur in the story BUT I will not be writing lemons or smut or whatever you call it. Nope, none of that here.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson, or any of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians characters or setting or story or rights to the ideas. The same goes for Heroes of Olympus, Kane Chronicles, and [Matthew? Arnold? Arthur? Magnus?] Chase and the Sword of Summer. Or anything else ever. Apart from the plot. Which is mine, ALL MINE! But yeah, all the other stuff goes to Rick Riordan. Okay, that good?**

 **Anyways, let us be starting**

Dust flew across the desolate plain, spurred onwards by the gusting wind. The hot summer sun stared down from the heavens, spreading light over the wasteland and forming the shadows that sprung from the old gas station. The building was slowly falling into disrepair; its flaking white paint buried under a coat of dirt & grime, one window had been smashed and shelves which had once been overflowing with goods were now completely bare. Flies flitted throughout the aisles, concentrating near the shopkeeper, where he lay in a congealing pool of blood.

The tinkle of the store bell permeated throughout the shop, signalling the entrance of a customer. A women stepped through the door, her feet gliding softly across the laminate floor. She moved with caution, stopping every so often to peer throughout the room as if fearing a monster lurked in the gloom. She leaned down towards the shopkeeper's corpse, the sun at her back casting her shadow out over his body. A hand reached out, grabbing the rough wool of the shopkeeper's shirt, before tugging him onto his back. It was clear how the man had died, his chest was a gory mixture of blood, shirt and flesh and the front of his throat had been torn out. Shuddering he women pulled back, turned around and began to move swiftly towards the exit.

The flies swarmed around her in a frenzied mass, forming a black cloud above her head. The unmistakable iron stench of blood flooded the air. From theshadows that lined the back of the store emerged a man. A rough woollen cloak was wrapped around him; long dark locks of hair hung from his head in matted clumps. Deeps sea green eyes were sunk into his gaunt face, his skin as pale as the moon. Blood dribbled from his chin; drawing glistening, red trails through the stubble that covered his chin. His mouth opened and from within emerged a silky, sweet voice, "Hello Artemis."

Artemis flung herself sideways, her long, auburn hair flowing behind her as she crashed to the floor. A fraction of a second later a pair of bullets flew through the spot that she had occupied mere moments ago before bursting from the shop amidst a cascade of glass. The gunshots were immensely loud, their volume increased in the enclosed space. Scrambling behind a set of shelves which proudly claimed to have once contained an assortment of soft drinks Artemis called out to her attacker, "Who are you? And how do you know who I am?"

Cackling rang throughout the air before they were cut off by a fit of coughing. Seizing her chance Artemis sprang from behind her cover, drawing her dagger and stabbing down at the man in one fluid movement. Unable to react in time to block her blow the man could only gaze up at Artemis with a look of shock. Blood splattered the ground as it flew from his mouth, mixed with the spittle that accompanied it. The man stumbled and fell to his knees, his coughing finally ending. His gun, an M9 Beretta, clattered to the floor.

He spoke: "Your much faster then I remember."

Then he struggled to his feet, dagger still embedded in his chest. Artemis stood and stared at him in horror as he took a step towards her. He reached inside his coat and withdrew another pistol; he advanced to her before raising the gun to her head.

"In case you were wondering, these guns are loaded with custom made celestial bronze bullets."

Artemis, not one to die easily, sprang into action. One arm flew up, knocking the man's gun out of his grasp; while the other was swung towards his face. Laughing lazily, the man ducked under the wild blow and swung round to grab the firearm as it fell. Artemis lunged, kicking out at the man's exposed back and sending him sprawling the floor. He twisted, bringing the gun to bear and firing off a shot. Blood burst from Artemis' shoulder, she fell backwards as she spun from the bullets impact. She began to lift herself from the ground, letting out a large groan, when a bullet smashed into the ground inches from her face.

"Still raring for a fight aye? Just like you were 16 years ago, guess some things never change. I'd stay where you are if I were you; unless you want to visit Tartarus while your brains decorate the floor back here?"

Feeling he energy draining from her bullet wound Artemis slumped back to the floor. Sometimes you just have got to admit that you've been beaten, this was one of those times. Desperate to negotiate Artemis asked, "What is it you want from me?"

"Oh, that's simple, I want you to offer me a job."

"Wai- What?" Artemis spluttered, "You want me to offer you a job?"

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, no, no problem; it's just, a job?" Artemis said incredulously.

"Yup; but not just any job, a job I specify."

"And what job would that be?" she asked.

"Before I tell you that I need you to swear an oath that you will carry through this deal."

"Not before you-"

"Or I could just send you on vacation to Tartarus."

With a slight tinge of unease Artemis agreed to the deal.

"Swear an oath on the Styx," the man demanded.

"I swear on the River Styx to uphold the deal made between me and…"

"Otmshcheniye (a-too-ma-sheen-yeah), call me Otmshcheniye"

"Okay, I swear on the River Styx to uphold the deal made between Otmshcheniye and I"

"Now swear on your hunters."

"I swear on the lives of the Hunters of Artemis that I shall uphold the deal made between Otmshcheniye and I. Are we done now?" Artemis said exasperatedly.

"Yeah, we're done now" came Otmshcheniye's reply.

"What job is it you want me to give you?" Artemis asked.

"Guardian of the Hunt."

Artemis' reply was instantaneous, "Never!"

"You swore on their lives you know, I could click my fingers and they'd all be dead and gone," the man threatened.

"Fine, but I will know the true identity of the _boy_ who will be guarding my hunt, not some unpronounceable alias," she growled.

"Now that you've made your oath that's no problem. It is my pleasure to see you again after so long Artemis, and frankly it saddens me that you can't remember me; I did after all save your life multiple times, I even got a title for it. Percy Jackson, Hero of Olympus, at your service milady."

 **A/N: So comment, review, follow (if you liked it) and all that good stuff. Be sure to tell me what you liked/disliked and what I can improve on; the more reviews/views this thing gets the faster the next chapter will be published because if nobody is reading it what is the point of me writing this? But yeah, not going to be your _ordinary G_ uardian of the Hunt story, plans are in place for him to leave the Hunt completely but I wouldn't be telling you nothing about that... Until next time.**


	2. Percy Goes To Work

**A/N: Hooray, new chapter. I'm honestly shocked by the amount of support there had been for this story so far, I was expecting far less then what I got so thanks. Hopefully this chapter reaches your expectations, it was a teeny bit rushed because I wasn't expecting so many people to enjoy this. So yeah, on with the story.**

Artemis stared at him; her eyes full of shock. It was impossible, there was absolutely no way that this _boy_ could possibly be the Former-Hero of Olympus Percy Jackson. After all, the man was long dead; sixteen years in fact. ' _Just like you were sixteen years ago'_. No it was impossible, he had been cast into Tartarus; chained, gagged and stripped of his power. There was no way anybody could've survived that, let alone a _boy_.

"H-h-how?" Artemis stuttered out, "You should've died sixteen years ago, how are you still alive?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Percy said, "We should probably be heading to the Hunter's Camp, else they'll be wondering where you've got to."

'I couldn't possibly have a traitor" – Percy's eye twitched – "like you be my Hunt's Guardian!" Artemis said.

"Well that's too bloody bad!" Percy spat, Artemis recoiled from the sudden hostility. She shrank back onto the floor, desperate to get away from the hate and anger emanating from Percy. Peeking up at him she saw that he had calmed down, and the aura surrounding him had calmed just as quickly as it had turned violent. With a malevolent grin he added, "And I'm looking forward to seeing Thalia again."

Thalia, Lieutenant of the Hunters; how could he not be looking forward to meeting her once more. Before the, uh, 'incident' they had been thick of thieves; but had she been there for me when I needed her? No, she had bowed to her father and _milady_ and allowed me to disposed of. This was going to be fun.

The goddess, Artemis spoke, "Well grab on then, I'm going to teleport us in."

Teleportation, flashing golden light, the true form of the gods; which, by the way, was an extremely boring radiant burst of bright light. Artemis had stood up and was now impatiently waiting for Percy to grab on.

"Would you hurry up, I don't have all day y'know," she whined. Percy hated people who whined; they always felt entitled, like they deserved something just because they said they wanted it. If you wanted something you took it, and if anyone or thing stood in your way you destroyed it; that was the law he lived by. People who whined die first, that's something you learn pretty fast in Tartarus. Yes, those who whine are idiots, losers, maggots to be crushed underneath his feet!

"Well I guess I'll be leaving you here then," Artemis said. Percy's reaction was instantaneous; he covered the ground between them in under a second but even then he was barely fast enough. Just as he collided with her he was enveloped in a flash of light as they were teleported. They both crashed to the ground in a heap; fresh green blades of grass crushed by their falling bodies.

They had landed in a meadow, it was long and shaped like an oblong surrounded by pine trees. At the opposite end where several silver tents placed in haphazard circle around a larger, central one. It was the hunter's camp, but it seemed to mysteriously derelict of the infamous huntresses.

"WHAT THE HADES ARE YOU DOING!" Artemis screeched at Percy; looking back at her he was unable to identify the source of her anger, perhaps she just hated being pinned? Deciding that it was safe to release her Percy returned to his feet while Artemis spluttered in rage, "How dare you lay your hands on me _boy_ , if you weren't my hunt's Guardian I would've turned you into a jackalope and thrown you to the wolves!"

"Would you just shut it already?" Percy snapped back, something was wrong, the hunters were nowhere to be found and the hairs on the back of his neck were beginning to rise; this was no time to be fussy about a little physical contact.

Resuming his survey of the nearby woods Percy caught a glimpse of silver disappearing behind a tree; he stepped forwards, just in time to avoid being gutted by a silver-tipped arrow. Instinctively he jerked to the left causing the arrow which had been intended for his head slice into his right arm, letting out a hiss of annoyance he drew his gun with his left hand. Guessing at the origin of the shots he aimed and pulled the trigger, only to hear a click as the gun refused to fire.

"Not so big now are you _boy_ ," called out a familiar sounding voice, it was joined by a chorus of laughter that emanated from the woods. Percy scowled, he didn't appreciate it when people mocked him; usually they would quickly come to regret it as their head would be removed from their shoulders not long later. Unfortunately, he seemed to be at the mercy of his attackers so there was little hope of that solution being applied in this case.

"Do you usually enjoy bullying people who can't see you or can you actually fight?" Percy taunted.

"Only a stupid _boy_ such as yourself would fall for a trick like that," said the voice; Artemis began to laugh then infuriating Percy. He was beginning to get really pissed off at whoever had shot him, not only had they managed to injure him, they hadn't fallen for his (admittedly pitiful) trap and now they had managed to get his new employer to begin laughing at him. He really, really wanted to rip their heads of right now; maybe stick it on a pole and carry it around to strike fear into those who opposed him.

Then Percy too began to chuckle, just lightly but evidently enough for 'the voice' to notice. "What is so funny boy, why are you laughing?" it queried, fear mixed in with the confusion of its tone.

Percy was laughing because he had finally figured out who the voice was, it had been Artemis who had tipped him off. He probably should've realised when she had first said ' _boy_ ' with that patronising tone, as if to be male was the most disgusting thing possible; Hades, he should've known when that _silver-tipped_ arrow hit him. Even his gun had offered a clue, the magic preventing the Guardian from harming their charges had stopped it from firing. And so he was amused by his own stupidity, that and the irony of the situation; he was being attacked by the very people he was supposed to be protecting: The Hunters of Artemis.

 **A/N: Yes, yes, I know; I've delayed the "we meet again" moment as well as the "introducing the Guardian" scenes. I plan to have them encompass the next chapter because I personally feel like they're the most important part of any GotH-esque story because they set the whole mood for the "acceptance into the Hunt" part of the story, oh and [SPOILER-ish] I plan on having the Hunt accept Percy much more difficult then is common; especially seeing as he won't have the support of Thalia & Artemis. Now, I don't now how you guys feel about Thalia, and I personally don't mind her, but in my story she's betrayed Percy so don't expect no buddy-buddy punching-annie Thalia, it ain't happening. Review, Follow, Favourite (if you enjoyed it of course) and all that other stuff; be sure to tell me what parts you liked/disliked, what I can work on and whether you enjoy short sharp updates or would rather me have better quality, longer chapters. Until next time, Ciao.**


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